Middle of the Night (novel)

Middle of the Night

Book cover
Author	Riley Sager
Audio read by	Santino Fontana
Language	English
Genre	Psychological thriller
Set in	Princeton, New Jersey
Publisher	Dutton
Publication date	2024
Publication place	United States
Pages	384
ISBN	9780593472378

Middle of the Night is a 2024 psychological thriller novel by Riley Sager. The book follows Ethan Marsh, who returns to his childhood home and is haunted by the disappearance of his best friend Billy decades ago during a backyard sleepover.

Plot

In July 1994, 10-year-old Ethan Marsh and his parents Fred and Joyce live in the Hemlock Circle cul-de-sac in Princeton, New Jersey. The other residents of the cul-de-sac are the Barringers and their sons, Billy and Andy; the Wallaces and their daughter Ashley; the Chens and their son Russ; the Patels and their son Ragesh; and the Van de Veers.

One day, best friends Ethan and Billy explore the grounds of the nearby Hawthorne Institute, a mysterious research center founded by the eccentric Ezra Hawthorne. The institute's mission is to investigate ghosts, ESP, and other parapsychological phenomena. Billy and Ethan are joined by Ashley, Russ, and Ragesh.

While they explore a mausoleum on the institute's grounds, Ragesh locks Billy, Ethan, and Russ inside as a prank. Ethan and Russ escape but abandon Billy, who is caught by institute staff. Billy is taken to see Ezra Hawthorne, and the two converse about ghosts, one of Billy's interests.

That night, Ethan and Billy are camping in Ethan's backyard; the boys fight about Billy's belief in ghosts. When Ethan wakes up, he discovers that the tent has been sliced open and Billy is missing. The police are unable to find any solid clues or suspects for Billy's disappearance, and his case receives widespread media attention as the "Lost Boy". For years, Ethan is haunted by a recurring dream of hearing the tent being sliced open.

In July 2024, Ethan returns to Hemlock Circle to tend the house after his parents move to Florida. While the Barringers left long ago, Russ still lives in the neighborhood, and Ashley has returned with her 10-year-old son Henry to care for her ailing father Vance.

Ragesh, now a local police detective, informs Ethan, Russ, and Ashley that Billy's remains have just been discovered. The body was at the bottom of a waterfall on the Hawthorne Institute's grounds; evidence suggests that Billy suffered blunt trauma and his body was dumped at the falls. Ethan investigates the institute, wondering if it was involved in Billy's death. He learns that Ragesh and Johnny—Russ' older brother who died of a drug overdose the year before Billy's disappearance—were volunteers at the institute, and suspects that Billy and Johnny's deaths are linked.

Meanwhile, Ethan experiences a series of unusual events: motion detector lights turn on at night, handwritten notes appear in his house, and baseballs are placed in his yard (a sign from Billy that he wanted to play). It is revealed that Ethan's wife Claudia, to whom he has been sending voicemails and text messages, died a year ago of an aortic aneurysm; Ethan wants to believe in a paranormal explanation for Billy's death to help process his grief about Claudia.

When he attempts to recreate the night of Billy's disappearance, Ethan discovers in his dream that the person slicing the tent was Russ, who resented Ethan and Billy's friendship. Ethan confronts Russ, who is arrested.

Henry is abducted by Billy's brother Andy, who has been off the grid for years and returned to the neighborhood after learning Billy's body was found. Ethan realizes that Vance Wallace, who mentioned seeing the "Barringer boy" in the neighborhood, was actually talking about Andy. He also realizes that Andy is responsible for the "paranormal" events—tripping the motion detectors, writing the notes, and placing baseballs in Ethan's yard.

Ethan and Ashley confront Andy at the waterfall. Andy, who believes Ethan killed Billy, threatens to drop Henry over the falls. Ashley confesses that while driving through the woods late at night, her car struck Billy, who left the tent and was trying to return to the Hawthorne Institute after his fight with Ethan. She then hid his body at the falls, telling her parents that she hit a deer. Henry falls into the water and is rescued by Ethan, who feels a supernatural presence helping them.

One year later, Russ has departed Hemlock Circle, while Ashley is sentenced to ten years in prison for vehicular manslaughter, with the possibility of parole after eight years. She encourages Ethan to legally adopt Henry, and the pair move in together.

Background

After seven novels with a female main character, Middle of the Night is Sager's first novel with a male protagonist. Also unusual for Sager, the story is told from multiple points of view. Like the book's protagonist Ethan, Sager lived on a cul-de-sac in Princeton, New Jersey at the time of writing; he was inspired by "the idea of writing about a place that everyone thinks is so safe and so quiet and nothing bad ever happens".

The book's cover features artwork by the Spanish-American artist Alberto Ortega.

Reception

Middle of the Night spent three weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list in the "Hardcover Fiction" category. Gabino Iglesias, in the Times, wrote that Middle of the Night was "a creepy and unnerving thriller that flirts with the supernatural", calling Sager "a master of twists". USA Today's Felecia Wellington Radel gave the book three out of four stars; she called it a "twisty mystery" with "many sudden turns" and "suburban secrets", but was disappointed that the book's deeper questions "largely go unanswered".

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called Middle of the Night a "standout work of psychological suspense" which "confirms that Sager has few equals when it comes to merging creepiness and compassion." Library Journal's Elisha Sheffer said that the story's paranormal element "adds a pleasant chill as the tension gradually builds", and that Sager's "signature style will leave readers dizzyingly satisfied." Kirkus Reviews gave Middle of the Night a negative review due to the book's red herrings and "a complicated resolution that raises more questions than it answers", calling it "intensely boring" with a "punishingly slow" pace.